Farming During a Pandemic
Kline Family Farms has taken many precautions for our employee’s health and safety during this pandemic. Every day, our employees take their temperature. We also ensure proper social distancing and mask wearing in close spaces when social distancing cannot be done. We also sanitize the equipment and machinery that we use on a daily basis.
Any employee that is feeling unwell is asked to forego coming to work and work from home if possible. We value our team and strive to have the safest working environment we can for them so that they can return to their loved ones at the end of their day.
Pumpkins
2020 was our first year planting pumpkins. The varieties we planted were white lumina, heirloom, and orange jack-o-lanterns. Mouzin Family Farms helped provide us with knowledge and insight on growing and successfully harvesting our first batch of pumpkins.
During harvest, we used old school buses to collect the pumpkins and prepare them for travel back to Kline Family Farms. Jim’s favorite variety of pumpkin were the heirloom (pictured right) for their unique looks.
Cover Crops
Kline Family Farms started planting cover crops in 2017. We did this for several reasons including soil conservation and transitioning fields to organic crop. The cover crops most utilized are rye and an oats and radish mix.
Rye is used the most at Kline Family Farms. We use rye on fields going to soybeans after a soybean rotation. Rye is also used on highly erodible soil.
We utilize the oats and radish mixture on fields going to corn. The radish have long tap roots that help with breaking up the soil from beneath to help reverse previous soil compaction.
Cover crops slow the rate of runoff from rainfall, reducing soil loss due to erosion. They also increase soil organic matter, leading to improvements in soil stability, and increased moisture and nutrient holding capacity for plant growth.
Organic Crops
Kline Family Farms first started transitioning land to organic in 2018. We had our first USDA certified organic crop harvest in 2020. This 2021 season, we will be planting 620 acres of certified organic corn and soybeans.
The benefits of organic crops include a higher market price per bushel and boast more environmentally friendly practices.